INSIGHTS
- On May 16, 2023, the inaugural ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), which would be co-chaired by Union minister Piyush Goyal, was held in Brussels.
- The discussion will focus on trade, green energy, digital governance, and strategic technology collaboration.
- TTC, which was introduced in 2022, intends to address issues with commerce, technology, and security.
The India-European Union (EU) Trade and Technology Council (TTC) is scheduled to hold its inaugural ministerial meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on May 16, 2023. Piyush Goyal, a minister for the Union, will co-chair the conference. The three working groups on strategic technologies, digital governance, and connectivity; green and clean energy technologies; trade, investment, and resilient value chains; will use it to sketch out a plan for collaboration.
The inaugural ministerial meeting of the India-EU TTC will be co-chaired by the minister of external affairs for India and the minister of state for electronics and information technology for the Union. Margrethe Vestager and Dombrovskis will jointly lead the EU side.
The goal of the TTC, according to a press release from India’s ministry of commerce and industry, is to create a high-level coordination platform to address strategic challenges at the intersection of trade, technology, and security. The TTC was officially announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, in New Delhi in April 2022.
The ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, addressing issues of reciprocal market access, WTO reforms, and cooperation in several areas of mutual interest would all be covered during high-level meetings with senior leadership of the EU and Belgium.
Goyal will also be present tomorrow at a stakeholder gathering for working groups 1 and 2. While Group 2 focuses on clean and green energy technology, Group 1 focuses on digital governance and connectivity. About eight business executives from each side will attend this session and offer their opinions and recommendations. At this event, Goyal will give a special speech.
Later on in the day, Indian Minister Goyal will participate in a bilateral discussion with European Commissioner for Internal Trade Thierry Breton on the small and medium-sized company (SME) sector, the startup ecosystem, and e-commerce.
In the presence of business executives from the EU and India, Goyal met in private with Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice-president of the European Commission, after which there were stakeholder consultations for Working Group 3 (WG3). Six corporate executives from the EU and India will be present at the WG3 conference, which will discuss trade, technology, and resilient supply chains. The minister will also give the keynote talk at a business conference hosted by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB).
